7 years of CBC comes to an end...

most awesome guitar ice cream cake!

I took this before CBC last night.  A memory of where I sang and played the last 2 years.

It was a bittersweet moment

It's hard to believe I did CBC for 7 years.  And so many things have changed over those years.  When I first started I was timid and nervous about everything.  It took a lot of years, but I think I'm finally coming out of my shell.  I can see where playing the guitar and singing has helped me tremendously with my insecurities.  I mean, I think back when I couldn't even stand in front of people and try to speak without falling apart, and now I'm singing and playing guitar!   I have come a long way in the last few years, and I am just beginning to gain some confidence.

CBC was such a big part of what I do, it's going to be weird to not be doing it anymore.  And I think I was just barely starting to get good at it...haha.  Yeah, and I will probably miss those kids!

Yesterday was our last CBC for the year, and I think probably the last one for me forever.  But then again, as Kyle was saying, we never know about these things.  I mean, look, we had no intentions of still being in NJ for the CBC that just ended.  Thought we'd be living in Michigan before winter last year, and yet here we still are, and wondering exactly when on earth we will be able to move!  I feel like we don't know anything anymore.  It's a long, drawn out waiting game...and this game is not so much fun.  We wait for permits, approvals, engineer drawings, inspections, proposals, answers from lawyer, requests from buyers...it seems to never end!  We don't even have a start date for the septic system, let alone a closing date!

We don't know how much longer we'll be in NJ, but I do know it will be long enough for Darryl and I to sing together at Grace one more time!  I'm really happy about that!   And then after that, I will be with Ryan's praise band in Michigan.  We are planning to incorporate my worship song into their list of songs, and hopefully will be able to sing it while I'm there next time.  Can't even begin to tell you how excited I am for that.

After that is Kyle's wedding.  So many things are changing.  It's hard to keep up!  But I'm excited for what God has planned and where He's taking me and my family.

forgotten photos

Just a bunch of random photos that I forgot about...

where I've been practicing at home

makeshift sound absorber

haha...yeah I hung that stuff up around the mic so that it would reduce the echo.  It worked pretty well!

my crocuses in Michigan

Kyle sent me that picture of the flowers so that I could see what I'm missing in Michigan.  I loved it so much I made a "Welcome" slide for our powerpoint on Sunday.  haha

out for dinner on Good Friday

fancy scallop appetizer

traffic standstill on 46 trying to get into Grace church for Easter

gridlock trying to get out of the parking lot of church

took 15 minutes to get out

Tim wearing one of Ryan's T-shirts

having chimney rebuilt

my rebounding socks

I match!

Darryl digging a 10' hole being scrutinized by Engineer and guy from township

filling the hole back in

I do love having pictures of my life.  It's like a visual diary.

theme songs

Normally for our theme nights at CBC we don't do different songs. This time I was asked to do a few new ones for Green night for St. Patrick's Day, and Western night.  Here are the songs I learned.  They were super fun to learn and I wanted to memorialize them here since I'll probably never sing them again.  I just did these silly recordings in my kitchen.

The Unicorn - for Green Night


Lord of the Dance - for Green Night


Home on the Range - for Western Night


This week is our last CBC for the year, and likely my last one forever.  Think I will miss singing.

it was a Good Friday

This is Ryan's Good Friday service.   I'm so blessed to have had a hand in creating it.  Ryan and the rest of them did a wonderful job of putting it all together and playing it out.

unrealistic expectations?

Do you ever want something so badly that you automatically think God is on board with it?  You want it so badly that you have already planned your life around it.  You want it so badly that you can’t imagine it working out any other way.  Yeah, me too.

It’s funny that we do that.  In our minds, we can already “see” the fulfillment of our desires.  We let others know how excited we are.  We tell them God is good.  We tell them we will not limit God.

Why is it that we can claim to “not limit God” when it comes to our own desires, but we have no problem squashing somebody else’s dream?

Why is it that our faith is so strong when we want our prayers answered, but then we are quick to dismiss someone else’s prayer when we don’t agree with what that person is praying for?  Isn’t that like “limiting” God?

What happens when we believe God for something, but somebody else is believing just the opposite?

What makes one person's faith or dreams better than somebody else's?  We all serve the same God.  

Maybe God put you in a position to be used by Him to help and encourage someone’s dreams.  Will you use your words to build up or tear down?  Will you allow yourself to be used by God, or simply brush it off because you can't see what they see?  

Yes, God is sovereign…and He puts certain desires in all of us.  And even though many will come against us, we can expect Him to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine!  That's what I'm doing!

Don’t let anybody EVER tell you that you have unrealistic expectations!

Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

more from Michigan

A reality I'm trying to live with.  I've been praying, and thinking about Joseph in the Bible, and talking to people, and trying to be transparent with some issues I've dealt with over the past year.  Yeah, God is doing something with me, and I am so willing to do what he says and be obedient, but then my old stupid flesh kicks up and complains, and I find myself at square one again.  I guess it's a never ending process, this giving up, this giving things over to God; all this surrendering.  I want to say "Yes, God."  But truthfully, sometimes I find myself saying, "But God!"  

a cool shot from the night flight

  

The weather in Michigan was so springlike one day, I walked around the yard and went on the swing, enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air.

the yard BEFORE the snow

I took a walk to buy a gallon of milk in the snow 

AFTER the snow

Here is a last minute song that Ryan did, but we didn't have the words, so it's just a lot of strummin' and hummin' trying to sound cool.  haha, yeah, it's what we do.